report out facebook will slow down in three years. we asked you how you will be using it in three years? >> dave says i was thinking facebook might make a great doorstop in three years. >> like this this. floppy disk! >> ""morning joe" starts right now. ♪ if you want to hang out you got to take her out ♪ >> every nation has its issues with its leaders whether it's

corruption or incompetence or insatiable desire to smoke crack. to be fair, though, that was before mayor ford of toronto sought help. he has been sober four weeks from now as this video from two weeks ago tonight will attest. >> bop, bop, bop. five months ago. >> is there anything? canada has two official languages and i believe that was neither of them. all righty then. good morning. it is thursday, january 23rd. welcome to "morning joe." with us on the set, we have msnbc contributor mike barnicle. msnbc political analyst and visiting professor at nyu, former democratic chronongressm "daddy" harold ford junior. how is she? >> fantastic. >> thomas roberts, you're all perky this morning. >> i'm trying. it's almost friday, right? >> is your first week over?

>> it's almost the second week. sophomore week. >> it is flying by. >> it is. >> in washington, senior political ed dor and white house correspondent for the huffingtonpost, sam heine and with me is joe. >> how are you doing? >> i'm not good. >> what is wrong? >> i've got this allergic reaction going and i can hardly open my eyes and i'm on a lot of medicine. i'm slurring my words. >> you've got like 12 rescue dogs and cats in your house. i'm serious. you brought a new one in. not 12 but do you think i might be allergic to the new one, spice? >> i'm so sad. do you think it's him? >> i don't know but it could well be. >> it could be the cats. >> no, i've had the cats. i've got a lot of animals.

>> think about the dog. you just brought the dog in, your new rescue dog and your face bluf up at the same time. most people would assume and i think fairly me you're allergic to and why you have me in a sealed room down the hall. >> it's not you. >> it's not me. i think it's the dog. >> could be thomas. i hope it's not the dog. >> it's not tomas either. >> i saved him from an emmeaine death. apparently he was on his way. >> my mom always says, the road to hell. you know how it goes. >> we will see how it goes with this medication. >> maybe you'll have to give your little doggie away. >> that's just sick. all right. i will not do that. there is a new gauge, i'm going to news now. >> mika, listen. listen. at some point, you're going to have to decide. do you want to have that little

dog in your house. >> i do. >> or do you want to see? your call. six of one and half a dozen of the other. you decide. >> nothing to decide here so i'm good. >> is it the dog? >> it could come down to that. >> i think it's the dog. >> i'll let you know this is now three minutes past the hour. there is a new gauge to the political damage inflicted on governor chris christie. a new rutgers eagleton poll shows 46% of registered voters in new jersey have a favorable opinion of the governor. that is down from 65% in november just before his sweeping re-election win. 53% of voters now approve of how he is handling the job. that is 15-point drop in the past two months. one takeaway from the poll, christie's rating are noticeably lower than those who travel across the george washington bridge at least once a week. joe, what do you make of these numbers? >> it's hard to say really. harold ford, you know, if you get -- if you get a drop in

approval ratings and you're in chris christie's position, it doesn't really matter right now. that said, though, 20-point drop when you're trying to flex your muscles nationally is not the best case scenario. i know what goes up must come down. i haven't seen a lot of politicians have that have gone down 20 points and gone back up those 20 points. may be irrelevant in the end to voters in iowa in 2016 and new hampshire in 2016 and south carolina in 2016, but right now, it's certainly something he has to be seriously concerned about, doesn't it? >> he would have to be. i'd say two things. i may not get to twix in terms of a presidential candidate. he has for focus how he gets out of the mess he is in now. i think two things based on what you see now. one, the u.s. attorney could say there is nothing here and we haven't found enough evidence to go forward or they find something to go forward with. either way you would have to

imagine it would complicate his rga abilities and would complicate a national campaign ability. the best scenario for him would be for both committees in the state legislature and the u.s. attorney to say not only is there no evidence but no need for us to look at into this. we did and found nothing and giving him a clean bill of health. chris christie is a former u.s. attorney himself. he would have to understand as well as any that the consequences and the complications and the consequences here either way. >> right. sam stein, i have said from the beginning of this chris is a friend of mine and day chris add his word and still take chris at his word. a lot of people don't. so let's say each if i'm right and the majority of people are wrong, chris is still left with a situation where he has had to get rid of a lot of appointees. it seems he has terrible judgment in hiring team around

him. >> yeah. i think you're right. the problem that he faces that he won't be absolved, if he is ever absolved, until a few months down the road or maybe even a year. the investigations take time and people want to find out every little bit of evidence that relates to the hoboken mayor and whether sandy relief funds were withheld there and the use of the sandy ads of himself and et cetera. he has to wait this out and not much relief down the road. like i said people will ask were you involved in this or did you have the right judgment in pointing the people to the point thort or anyone else in your capability. when rudy giuliani went on "meet the press" to defend him, in the process he said the president isn't responsible for the irs scandal. people he appointed who he created the culture. same thing with chris christie. in the process of defending chris christie he is absolving barack obama. if that is your defense from rudy giuliani it's a tough defense. >> a difficult place to move

from. we will follow this story and go back at it in a bit. moving on now. take a look at this. a surprising admission from one of the outspoken personalities. this is glenn beck, a former fox news host, react to go a question from megan kelly. >> when you think back on your time here, how do you remember it now? >> i remember it as an awful lot of fun and that i made an awful lot of mistakes and i wish i could go back and be more uniting in my language because i -- i -- i think i played a role, unfortunately, in helping tear the country apart and it's not who we are. i didn't realize how really fragile the people were. i thought we were kind of more

no it together. now, i look back and i realize if we could have talked about the uniting principles a little bit more instead of just the problems, i think i would look back on it a little more fondly. >> joe, surprising. >> yeah. he came up this past week and also said if you are anti-gay, if you don't like a person because they are gay, you have no place in this country and you are -- don't call yourself a fan of mine. i think what is so fascinating about this is that if glenn beck were saying all this from a position of weakness, that would be one thing. glenn beck, i mean, from what i saw who made like $90 million last year, he has done on the internet what the largest corporations in america have tried to do on the internet.

i mean, he has -- he has somehow brought together tv and internet and he's had an extraordinary year financially. so i think that's what is even more telling about this is that he is making these admissions from a position of strength. what do you think about it, meek? let's toss it around the table. i think it's fascinating. by the way, i take him at his word. i've been a harshly critical of glenn beck. i don't think anybody is more harshly of glenn beck the past several years than me. i take him at his word but for some reason he is being cynical in these things he is saying, that is even better, because that means that he recognizes that there is a market for this sort of inclusive talk politically. so, you know, i -- i commend him actually. not that he needs my commending but you what do you think, mika? >> i don't think there is as

much a market for a tone like that as there is for frothing at the mouth and i've seen that in ratingins on both sides of the aisle, so i'd like to believe this is something he has truly thought about and evolved in a certain way and has looked back. we all look back. i'm sure, joe, you have stories of when you first went to congress. >> oh, god. >> versus now. >> yeah. >> where you realized tone -- >> we have all made horrible mistakes on the air. we have all made horrible mistakes. very few people do what he just did. >> exactly. i can take a show we did in the past week and i remember watching pieces of it later in the day and just saying the tone was all wrong, looking only at myself and trying to -- but this is big. this is looking back at a time in his career when i think there were a lot of different bull horns out there on both sides

that might have led to some of the strife that we are seeing or even some of the bad things that have happened. that is a huge thing, i think, for him to say that publicly. >> first of all, i don't want to be, you know, totally cynical, but was glenn beck contrived two or three years ago when he was spouting what he was spouting or strived in that interview with megan kelly? the other aspect of it -- >> probably not. >> -- we are such sheep we follow a glenn beck off the cliff, then it's time for a internal autopsy in this country, seriously. >> i think people do listen to him. >> i'm not saying they don't. >> i don't know if you want to call them sheep. >> that is the problem. if we have huge numbers of people in this country who think what a glenn beck says, whether he is talking three years ago or whether he is talking fairly sensible stuff with megan kelly, if we have huge numbers of people in this country say, yes, glenn beck told me this or that

and let's go do it, i mean, come on. >> i think that is where you're stirring the pot. >> his show, i mean, we used to watch it in the post office a couple of years ago when he was on fox. that show was crazy! so i'm kind of curious as to why he is having than epiphany now. i'm not trying be too cynical about it. what joe mentioned earlier i thaw the scarborough show was a national treasure and you don't need to apologize for anything, joe. >> thank you very much. for sam to say that when he was in third grade. >> what show was that? >> i would stay up until 6:00 or whenever it was and watch it and then go to bed. >> the thing is, mika, we all know and we have all seen it. i mean, people watch shows on the left and they watch shows on the right and there is a lot of ideological nonsense spewed out there. to mike's point, yes. people on the left and people on

the right follow people that peddle extreme messages like sheep and follow them over the cliff because it reinforces their preexisting stereotypes that i'm right and everybody else is wrong and it's this warm ideological blanket that people wrap up in. the last thing i'll say about this and then we have other things to talk about, there are people right now who are doubling on the extreme talk on the right and on the left. again, this guy is a very, very powerful force out there and i'm glad that he is saying what he is saying. >> yeah. made me stop and go, whoa, what happened? we will move on. prosecutors have laid out a comprehensive case against former governor bob mcdonnell and his wife maureen. legal experts say the 43-pay indictment may still not be

enough to send mcdonnell to jail. the prosecution needs to prove whether mcdonnell and his wife of virginia exclusive tried to help star scientific whose ceo gifted the couple with thousands of dollars in perks. each to the case of rod blagojevich the jury was deadlocked on most issues despite blagojevich caught on video trying to sell barack obama's senate seat. we talked about this yesterday and the day before the story broke. they seem to have a lot on the former virginia governor, joe, and it certainly looks bad, all of the gifts and the shopping trips, the watch. >> yeah. >> having said that, is there still a question as to whether or not the law was broken? >> there is no doubt. there is no doubt. is there a huge question there. "the washington post" story is a must read this morning because they paint what i was saying the other day and what i've been saying for some time that the

feds reaching out to go after this guy given the virginia law and given the lack of payoff for star scientific, at least as far as legislation goes or appointments go, is paper thin, very little there. sam stein, that said, you read the 43-count indictment which i did last night, it is shocking. i must say the behavior especially of his wife, the sense of entitlement, the demands, the requests are absolutely shocking and offensive and embarrassing. but that said, you look at the law and read "the washington post" article this morning and i think the feds are going to have a very difficult time doing anything other than bankrupting bob mcdonnell and his family for

the rest of their life. >> i think when this is all settled the real scandal we are going to be discussing is this probably fell within the rule of law and that -- >> virginia law. >> that said, the feds don't have to prove that an exchange for the gifts was granted but that it was promised. so that is very tough to do. you have to show intent and maybe this guy who ran star scientific has some e-mails or letters that show intent but my guess is reading "the post" article today the lawyers will have a tough time -- or the prosecutors will have a tough time finishing up this case. what probably will happen they will nail them on obstruction of justice charge because they led investigators. the real scandal here under virginia law, these type of gifts and access for gifts which he did get is probably permissib permissible. peace talks in switzerland off to a rough start yesterday.

john contrary opened the conference by playing down and ultimatum for a solution in the war-torn country. >> assad will not be a part of that transition government. there is no way, no way possible in the imagination that the man who has led the brutal response to his own people could regain the legisla-- john mccain one o most outspoken says president obama in syria accused the administration of overlooking war crimes. quote. i have never seen anything like this in my life. i thought jimmy carter was bad. but he pales in comparison to this president's in my view. joining us now is msnbc foreign

correspondent ahmad. where does this go from here? >> the negotiations will continue in geneva on friday. they will be between the opposition and international mediators but not any direct talks and really the short answer to your question is nobody really knows. there is such a wide gap, so many differences, a lot of mistrust, and fundamentally they are not even talking about the same thing. so nobody is certain that they are going to produce the outcome that is desired by all. >> amman, talk about the timing. as we look at these images that have been coming out and more people are getting familiar with, how does that reframe the narrative? >> it certainly puts back in focus what this fundamental conflict is about which is systemic human rights abuses and at the end of the day, these images are showing to what extent the regime will go to try to preserve its place in power.

it's known for a lot of journalists that human rights abuses are taking place on both sides but when you see these type of images coming out. again, we have to couch it with the fact that this was -- these are images that have been a governor defector who was ultimately, you know, allowed to bring this with the help of the government and their lawyers in london. the reason that is so important is qatar has been a key supporter of the opposition. so it raises some questions about the authenticity of the pictures which even the u.s. state department says it cannot independently verify. we know the systemic abuses are taking place perhaps not at this scale but the timing once again, refocuses the discussion what this is about and that is the human rights discussions. >> ayman, can you bring us up to ukraine? the political unrest is there

stunning. >> it's very important. ukraine is one of the most important countries in europe and more mornl russia. you have to go back to november to get a quick sense what this was about. ukraine was on pace to sign an agreement with the european union to join the eu or open trade deals. the president of ukraine says he doesn't want to do that and have closer ties to russia and that led to a sit-in protest in place now seven to eight weeks. yesterday we saw the government step up its campaign to break these protests up. you're seeing these hors terrific images on the screen. it felt like a battlefield, more like a war zone. three protesters have been killed and the opposition says the number is even higher. they are angry with the ukrainian president opting to be closer to russia than the european union. we are talking about the olympics in sochi and this is one more political crisis that the russian government has to deal with on its western border.

>> ayman, thank you very much. whcoming up with us is chuc todd and ben smith and greg whitley. first, bill karins with a check on the forecast. >> nothing good to say except cold. how cold is it? fairbanks, alaska a windchill of 24 degrees. a colder windchill in north florida and southern georgia than fairbanks, alaska. the coldest air out there is moving down in through canada and the central portions of the u.s. and with it dangerous windchills this morning. the worst two spots. northern new england has been cold the last 24 hours. you're still frigid this morning with negative windchills down to philadelphia. it's not as bad as the midwest. it is dangerous this morning in minneapolis. windchill minus 37. chicago at minus 22. there is not many spots in this country that is not cold.

tonight, we are going to get ice and sleet in san antonio, austin and houston of all places! and that will occur later on this evening around midnight so tomorrow morning, expect school delays and cancellations there in that region. overall this cold weather pattern is going to continue and looks like it goes goes all the way up up until the super bowl when we warm up around the country. next week is worse for areas like d.c. can you believe that? you're watching "morning joe." ♪ [announcer] word is getting out. purina dog chow light & healthy is a deliciously tender and crunchy kibble blend. with 20% fewer calories than purina dog chow. isn't it time you discovered the lighter side of dog chow. purina dog chow light & healthy.

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that began much the same way ours did. in a little dorm room -- 2713. ♪ this magic moment ♪

♪ so cute. time to take a look at the morning papers. "wall street journal" a new study predicts facebook's decline may happen sooner than we think. research out of princeton university estimates the social media giant will lose 80% of its

users by 2017. it suggests facebook piqued in 2012 and compares the trajectory to the demise of myspace. facebook has 1 billion users logging on each other. >> you have a 17-year-old and 15-year-old girls. >> correct. >> i have two boys in their tent20s and a 10-year-old girl that is -- i mean, all of them are online. >> yeah. >> i don't know about your kids, mine never go on facebook. they are on instagram, they are on, you know, they are on a variety of other things. but they just -- facebook is not a part of their lives. >> mine are on facebook but they have also brought in other -- and they use them all to talk which is so strange. they don't talk on the phone. they chat, they snapchat.

they take pictures. and they facebook. >> foxer. all of these other things. i guess it used to be that you could communicate by facebook but now you can use fox or mike barnicle loves to, snapchat. >> all the time. >> i just got sick. >> but there are a lot of different ways that they communicate. i got to day facebook does feel kind of 2010, you know? >> you know what i do? >> what do you do, mike? keep it clean. keep it clean. >> i sometimes communicate using the telephone. >> really? what is that like? >> i pick it up and i call someone and they answer the phone and we have a chat. >> you know what? >> i have big news! i've got a house phone line and just bought the old-fashioned phone. when i called you, joe, yesterday, it was on a black phone with buttons just like they do in the old days. plug it into the wall. i have to pay to have my house

so you can plug the phone into the wall with no cord. i got one. >> i like a house phone. >> sam, you guys should be very careful to bet against a young mark zuckerberg. this guy is young and he is hungry and smart and a lot of money. >> find a way but they will buy everything else. there you go. >> whatever you want to call it, i'd be careful you what bet against this guy. everybody talked bad about him and stock is hovering at 60 dollars a share now. >> joe, take us through the parade of papers. >> we are not talking bad about him, harold. are you investing in a pipeline in america or not. >> betting against a young guy who is smart and creative and

entrepreneurial. >> is up from 8 million for netflix. it has 44 million users worldwide. a good example of not trying to predict somebody's demise too quickly that was a company that was left for dead before, of course, it broke into the original series deal a couple of years ago. >> from nbc news.com two pets of jerky treats will return to the shelves despite fda warnings which prompted a nationwide recall last year. the treats were linked to the death and illness of thousands of pets. despite protests from veed na veterinarians, they do not need premarket approval. they will return to stores the next geks. >> you may want to give those to your new little dog. >> no! >> you may want to hit the brakes if you were thinking about buying what is considered a minicar.

out of the 11 cars tested the only subcompact was the chevy spark. the cars hit a barrier traveling 40 miles an hour. most of the vehicles suffered severe structural damage to the passenger side of the car and most of the manufacturers say their vehicles either meet or compete government safety standards. the worst read in the history of television. what does the "chicago tribune" say, mika? >> bill cosby is returning to nbc news. the actor is teaming up with former cosby show producers to develop a half-hour family sitcom and the show will be center around cosby who will play the head of a multigenerational family similar to cliff huxtable. >> los angeles times. >> he was pretty good. tom warner is going to produce

the new bill cosby show. >> a rabbit is making a lot of noise in south africa. the bunny discovered in the ear of a 30-foot statue of nelson mandela unveiled last month. the artist added the rabbit as a trademark of their work and symbol of working under a tight deadline. south african officials want the rabbit removed right now like we want, mika, jim vandehei removed right now. >> i have a rabbit in my ear. >> look how cute. he can't get the frisbee. >> which dog is that? >> that is the new one and talking to bush. the frisbee is talking to bush and he can't get it out. >> maybe he wants to escape. >> no, he wants the frisbee really bad. who would get rid of that ball? look how cute he is. >> i understand but you shouldn't investigate -- >> i'm not allergic to him.

joining us now is the politico playbook is jim vandehei. jim, good morning. >> good morning, how are you? >> we will start with the conservative group freedoms works and given a big endorseme endorsement. hoo shou should mcconnoll be worried this time? >> i think why mitch mcconnell is m.i.a. the last few years because he is worried about the tee party challenge. a great piece on this guy and the challenge of going against minimumship mitch mcconnell who has a lot of money and ruthless campaigner. he talks about when he goes to church people say you're going to be shunned at church and friends who say i want to give you money but i'm told i'll never have a job in kentucky politics again. that is what happens when you take on the big dog. he is probably too far down to catch up but getting backing of

the tea party groups and giving headaches to mitch mcconnell and making it hard for mcconnell to do his job in washington and get ready for a election campaign which isn't a walk in the park either. >> it points to the war within the republican party continues. you're going after the top republican in the senate. there are a lot of other senior republicans that are going after him. this is not like utah. my attitude on this stuff if you want to have an intramural fight in utah or alabama where we republicans will win any way, go at it. that is your business. but kentucky? kentucky is a state the democrats can actually win. this is where we have gotten in trouble in delaware and we have gotten in trouble in missouri and all of these swing states. now this could cause problems for republicans actually winning the seat in the general election in kentucky. >> there's no doubt. it's probably the biggest reason that republicans aren't in control of the senate today. there is lots of senate seats

over the last two election cycles that were definitely winnable on paper that they did win because of the divisions. i don't think there is any evidence that those divisions are any narrower today. in fact, i think a lot of that is that they are wider. i think the -- between corporate republicans and stabbed -- and the tea party see it every time you -- >> okay. what happens to his mike? that sounds like a little technical problem there. >> it's vandehei. >> so point out. sam stein, going to my bigger issue there with this challenge in kentucky, you go back and look. again, my attitude is, you know, if mike lee wins or runs in utah, okay, i'm a republican, we are going to win that one no matter what, right? but, again, you look what mcdonnell did and look what

happened to murdoch and you would think the conservative groups who want to forward the same republican agenda is most republicans you think they would choose their battles a little more wisely. kentucky is still a swing state. >> if you look at it from 30,000 feet, you would wonder what is so unconservative about mitch mcconnell. this is a guy who has led the senate minority leadership in recent memory at least. you have to wonder what are they doing? the only answer really is this is their reason for existence. they are there to challenge republicans to be more conservative and if they ever sign off and say, okay, our candidates are conservative enough, then they wouldn't have a point of being. so they will always be be there and always challenge the republicans to be more conservative usually through primary challenges. the question is what will groups like karl rove's group like this newly established group, what will they do to back up the more modern mainstream of republicans

and more established candidates and will they have any teeth? and i don't know. >> by the way, mika, i'm all for republicans being more conservative, especially on fiscal issues, but i'm also for republicans -- and i think most republicans would be for this -- would republicans controlling the senate instead of letting harry reid continue to run the united states senate. i think like tom coburn, i think that harry reid has run the senate into the ground and i think harry reid running the senate is a bad thing for america's long-term health. that's my belief. i know a lot of people will disagree with that. but if you believe that, then why do you keep gambling on losing seats? again, find people in conservative states that republicans are going to win. any way the general election and work on the margins there. i think at the end of the day, i think the money dries up for these groups because even -- i think most conservatives who are

like me are so independence in getting harry reid out as majority leader of the senate that we're going to stop shooting ourselves in the foot and folk on winning elections. what a radical concept, winning elections and controlling the senate. coming up the aftermath of the richard sherman interview. how he feels about the backlash to his animated outburst. "morning joe" sports is next. ♪ jerks jooirks the new new york is open. open to innovation. open to ambition. open to bold ideas. that's why new york has a new plan -- dozens of tax free zones all across the state. move here, expand here, or start a new business here and pay no taxes for ten years... we're new york. if there's something that creates more jobs, and grows more businesses... we're open to it.

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♪ oh, baby here i am signed sealed delivered ♪ >> you don't sleep with them? do you think this is why this is happening to me? >> yes. cats. >> she is so cozy. >> i'll distract you with itching from sports. >> do it. >> watch this. >> okay. i'm focused. japanese pitcher tanaka signed a seven-year 155 million dollar contract. tanaka yet to throw a pitch in the majors but yankees are convinced of his talents after seeing the 25-year-old go 24-0 with 1.27 e.r.a. in japan. authorities he has the superiority of a split finger fastball. >> best in the world. >> is it worth that kind of cash? >> we would find out. he is worth that kind of cash to the yankees.

so i really -- i'm really disappointed in being called a thug. >> it's a real craontrastcontra >> he seems like a nice guy. >> he wasn't really widely known before that erin andrews interview. they are advancing to the super bowl. >> look. he admitted he was wrong. move on! he is a stanford graduate. he has a good point about hockey. >> check out the play he made. >> oh, gosh. >> sam? >> he is the best cornerback in the league. >> yeah. >> he made an amazing play. yeah, he is a little brash but he has the game to back up his talk. also he is an incredibly thoughtful guy and past interviews with him really intelligent and he is a stanford graduate. it doesn't fit what we like to peg as athletes as being sort of humble in victory but i don't find anything really that wrong about it. >> we will get more endorsements. >> all right. >> i'd pick him on my team if hi a team. >> absolutely! >> are you all ready for this? take a deep breath. it's good for you. be in the moment. we reveal the new cover of "time" magazine. don't go away.

we will be right back. much more -- oh, there is emma! isn't she beautiful, mike? she is very snuggly. i always say be the man with the plan but with less energy, moodiness, and a low sex drive, i had to do something. i saw my doctor. a blood test showed it was low testosterone, not age.

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toaster strudel! [ female announcer ] try new pillsbury heat-n-go mini pancakes. ♪ time to take a look at the latest issue of "time" magazine. the cover story is the mindful revolution the science of finding focus in a stressed out multitasking culture? i'm seeing the word mindfulness everywhere lately. topic of the conferences i'm doing with arianna. a mindful magazine you can see at whole foods. this is becoming the new thing that people are focused on to sort of deal with the problems of our time. >> it's exactly that. it is a growing popular obsession but also a lot of science behind it. >> what is it?

mindfulness? >> mindfulness, simply put, the ability to focus your attention on the thing that you are doing when you are doing it. it sounds so basically. you know, my guess is 150 years ago, people were not so concerned about mindfulness but we have kind of done this to ourselves. we have created some amazing technology that has enabled to us to do five things at once and we know, the study shows that multitasking doesn't make you more productive. it may make you feel more productive but it doesn't. mindfulness the interesting thing about it is a lot of it is is on meditation. you eat mindfully and exercise mindfully and you can apply these principles of just focusing your mind to everything that you do. >> help me understand why you're not talking about a whole lot of nothing right now. >> there is evidence that shows there is a lot of studies being done right now but there is evidence that shows that mindfulness does, in fact, have really positive health effects like it can lower your blood

pressure and lower stress and affects people in the pentagon are interested in mindfulness as training for marines to put them in stressful situations. it's been proven that meditation can twaep help your mind. your mind is like a muscle and it needs a workout and we are used to working it out in certain ways. >> i was a working mother. i know something about doing five or six or seven things at once and that not being good in terms of your kids and being in the moment. boys, are you buying it? >> yes, yeah. because just look around. on an everyday basis, we have become a nation and a people who somehow large numbers of us confuse motion with achievement p.m. i'm rushing here and rushing there. what you got done? i. i got there. what did you get done? nothing. >> i'm at my kids' soccer game. i'm here but answering working e-mail. >> i'm envious of this woman our cover. this is the way i'd like to be at night now. >> let me help you, thomas. are you ready? >> harold, sit up straight.

barnicle, sit up straight. back shoulders drop and take a deep breath. >> you could have been a nun. >> and close your eyes. you wish. >> yeah, telling me to sit up straight. >> hide your knuckles. >> take a deep breath, mike barnicle. he can't do it. here is what you're supposed to do, harold. notice your breath. don't change your breathing. focus on the sensation of air moving in and out of your lungs, thomas. as thoughts come into your mind and distract you from your breathing, acknowledge those thoughts and then return to focus on your breathing each time. are you with me? you're not getting it at all. >> one eye on twitter. >> i'm reading the peyton manning story. >> see? sam, you work for arianna. >> yes. >> he doesn't sound too happy about that. >> i am very happy.

we have a meditation room in our office, as well as a yoga room in our office. i have not used either but i have used the nap room in our office and i'm very mindful of the need to unplug to recharge as arianna says. >> she says the nap rooms are good except when more than one person going into one pod. >> probably. >> ultimate relax aigs. >> how did we get here? >> you brought us here. >> i did. you're touching on sleep. the third metric in arianna's book coming out, the conferences we are doing are sleep and sleep habits and learning how to really sleep is something that is a challenge for most americans these days. >> 80s harold said, it can be hard. it can be hard to do simple as pay attention to your breathing but the first that someone mentioned mindfulness to me, at a seminar and someone said you

go bet an app on your phone and i thought, that is crazy, i don't need another thing on my money. i saw the word in more context and i heard more about mindfulness. you can be skeptical of it but it doesn't cost a lot to try it and if it helps you focus and be present in the places you want to be and where your life is happening, why not. >> you see the irony you have to have a mindfulness app? >> huge irony, huge irony, yes. >> the mindful revolution, the cover of "time" magazine. on the third metric live three-city tour, visit thirdmetr thirdmetriclive.com and we will be in washington, new york, and los angeles this spring and we are going to be exploring of the benefits of mindfulness sleep and remembering where you are at that moment and still being effective and productive.

still ahead, the bookkeeper who talked down the gunman and how she says she had the courage to talk down a would-be killer. we will be right back with much more "morning joe." ♪

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barbara bush was interviewed on c-span how much she likes bill clinton so that is fascinating. i brought in a clip and here it is. >> george told me bill insisted that he stay and bill insisted that he was taking care of and that was really nice. i love bill clinton.

maybe not his politics but i love bill clinton. >> oh, boy. i don't know about that. >> i didn't see that. >> terrible! >> look at that shot of new york city. obviously, t.j. is not in the control room. the lights just went up. >> it's very crowded. >> smokestack coming back. >> joining the table editor in chief of buzz feed, ben smith. and in washington, nbc news chief white house correspondent and political director and host of "the daily rundown," chuck todd. first, we want to go to the breaking news desk and thomas roberts has breaking news to report. >> what is up? >> you're lucky i like the light and flash cam. >> yes. >> because i think this is some terrible hazing. >> what do we got? read it! >> breaking news report.

nbc news 6 in south florida is reporting that justin bieber arrested for drag racing and dui. the miami police are not confirming this arrest. you'll recall the 19-year-old -- they are confirming? they are confirming his arrest, okay. so the 19-year-old california home was raided where sheriff deputies had investigate whether he is involved in throwing eggs at his neighbor's house. one of his friends was busted for cocaine during that. now there are these reports he has been arrested, drag racing on miami beach so that is serious. >> sam stein. >> we have lost a piece of our soul today. >> stop. >> i think we have, sam. >> the end of the innocence. >> it is the end of the innocence. we will laugh again. >> stop it with the glasses! >> good to be young again, joe.

>> we will laugh again. we will never be young again. >> where is the shredder? >> i can actually say thg interest this story? a couple of months my daughter tweeted that he was retiring and my daughter said, no, he is going to rehab, he is very troubled because he got too much too soon. that is the kids today. they know everything. >> who cares? >> and maybe someday he'll come back and sing something deeper in his songs beyond baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby. those are his lyrics. >> i'm impressed with with the fact i can't name a single song of justin bieber's. >> i can. just say baby 80 times. >> all of us here -- >> mike barnicle, i want to talk about something more important and that is mayor de blasio. i was just reading in the

papers, like he didn't take snowplows to the upper east side! all of those rich guys like donny deutsche who are used to having people come to their door personally and shovel! like de blasio did the boroughs, outer boroughs but didn't take the plows to the upper east side! you talk about class war fare! he is employing snowplows for his own brand of class war fare! >> someone told me that atlantic avenue over in brooklyn, you could have the indianapolis 500 run there today. >> oh, yeah. >> right down to the pavement. >> justin bieber could drag race on it! >> i happen to have gone over, ventured over to the east side of manhattan yesterday -- last night and it's incredible. you can get stuck on park avenue the conditions are so terrible over there. the interesting thing about de blasio and what happened in that

snowstorm. i was having dinner with a fellow on the oo east sieast si reminded me of a mayor in chicago. they didn't plow very well and that was it for his mayoralty. >> look at that picture. >> same thing here. >> the last great liberal in new york didn't plow the boroughs in his first month and that became the central thing. i'm not sure if this actually happened. they were saying that the trucks were there, their gps was busted but this is clearly like a defining story of his administration. >> here is one of the real problems that you pointed out. the upper east side, the publisher of the "the new york times" and the new york daily news, they don't like being stuck and don't like their streets not plowed. >> a lot of journalists of brooklyn these days, mike, and it was great out there. >> i will tell you what i heard

about mayor de blasio early on and i've heard he is a wonderful guy, but i have heard he is an old time sort of machine politician. if you give him money and if you support him, you're not going to be -- you're just going to be treated differently. i heard that during the middle of the campaign from a lot of people who actually didn't have anybody else in the race. how fascinating that the only area that christine quinn won that de blasio got hammered on the upper east side was the part of town that faced retribution and he didn't send the snowplows. look at the vote count. not a coincide that de blasio decides he is not going to send snowplows to the upper east side! it's unbelievable! >> stop! >> this is just -- this is, chuck todd, this is why people

hate new york politics. >> what show am i on? am i on "good day new york"? i'm not sure i got on that show. >> you're on "good day new york" and it was "good morning trent." >> you have to move along now. nothing to see there. >> i can update you from "good morning miami." wtvj reporting the car justin bieber got in was a rented lamborghini. >> why do you rent a lamborghini? that is not on my list. you have a mid-sized. do you have a lamb vertebra genie? -- lamborghini? >> that is a sad situation there. >> do you know about the captain and tenille? love is not going to keep them together? >> i can't take that.

it's too much. >> come on. >> off the rails. >> i don't want to hear it. >> they are getting divorced? >> yeah. >> he is 73 and she is 71. 39 years of marriage. >> they stick together for the kids? >> okay. >> muskrats. >> i don't know what to think. must be the an histamines antih >> a new rutgers eagleton poll shows 46% of registered voters in new jersey have a favorable opinion of the governor. that is down from 65% in november just before his sweeping re-election win. 53% of voters now approve of how he is handling the job. that is a 15-point drop from the last two months. one takeaway from the poll, christie's ratings are noticeably lower among those who travel across the george washington bridge at least once

a week. joe, take it away. >> imagine what mayor de blasio approval ratings are on the upper east side. chuck, do these numbers matter? >> sure they do. i think because, you know, the more -- the -- i think the weaker he looks -- i think part of the pylon here, right? what helped him -- what helped him for a long time was perhaps, you know, and we don't know exactly -- everybody is trying to figure out the culture how he ran his government. but there was a time, if he is really popular, you're no not going to challenge the governor and not go after him. the more this takes a toll on him the easier it is for opponents to feel as this they -- i think it ends up encouraging even more if -- if people feel like they want to come out and take him on or make of up a story. whatever you want to ble it bit, the lower your poll ratings the more embolden your political

opponents become so it does matter. >> ben, do you agree this matters? >> he is in a spiral. we are shocked that people in hudson county could behave so vin tick difficudictive vindictively. new jersey politics has always run, i think. a lot of stories like this and people are digging and digging and hard to see christie has not figured out how to turn this around and what the next story is. >> the bigger issue for the party is that everyone says look to the governors to find the leaders of the future, especially in the republican party and now we have not one but two stars that have fallen, if not temporarily. prosecutors laid out a comprehensive case against former virginia goth bob mcdonnell and his wife maureen. they say the indictment may still not contain enough to send mcdonnell to jail. the prosecution needs to prove whether governor mcdonnell and his wife explicitly promised to

help the company star scientific whose ceo gifted the couple with thousands of dollars in perks. "the washington post" points out even in the case of governor rod blagojevich, the jury was deadlocked on most charges despite blagojevich being caught on tape trying to sell barack obama's senate seat. joe, bob mcdonnell, on the face of it, it looks terrible, given the fact there are shopping sprees involved and gifts and watches and, yet, when you look at the technical its of it legally, i guess you could argue, if you wanted to argue the other side of this, this is a little bit of a witchhunt. >> well, the 43-page indictment reads horribly for the judgment of the mcdonnell's and for the way especially mrs. mcdonnell conducted herself as first lady of virginia, no sense of

propriety. it's devastating for them individually. legally, though, harold ford, as mika noted last hour, it was even hard to get blagojevich convicted when they had him on tape trying to sell a united states senate seat. there's -- in this case, legally again, i'm sure the prosecutors know something i don't, but from reading the indictment, there's one side of it. there is horrible behavior on the mcdonnell's part but the kid pro quo is paper thin and i think at this point, it seems like the prosecutors may be shaking them down to try to get an obstruction of justice charge and send somebody to jail a year or two or possibly probation but it seems like an overreach and i

don't understand why the attorney general has gotten involved in this. >> interesting to see to all of the points raised. seems to be a pretty clear standard if there is evidence that this company received some benefit from this virginia government run by mcdonnell at the time, it will clearly lead people to believe and might lead a jury to believe there was a quid pro quo. >> i don't want to interrupt you. forbif me. that is not the standard. the standard there has to be a quid pro quo. >> what i'm saying. >> this company could have gotten a benefit from the governor's office but there has to be an e-mail, there has to be information that connects that benefit here to -- >> i'm not saying anything different. >> -- to -- i'm just saying for people watching at home. the standard is much higher and that what "the washington post" points out today. there has to be a connection. there has to be a quid pro quo they can prove's the "the washington post" points out, that will be tough to prove. >> i agree. we would have to wait and see if

your theory is get to the obstruction of justice charge as opposed to the court charges contained in the indictment. >> can i jump in? >> joe, don't we know how this is going to end? >> star scientific basically got a bunch of benefits from the relationship with mcdonnell but he will be able to then turn around and say, listen, that is just part of what you do as governor. you try to promote businesses in your state. and that is where we get into the sort of legal technicalities. can you establish, whether through testimony or some paper work, that he got those benefits, he got that access and he got the championing of the governor's wife and product launches because of the gifts he gave the governor. that is where the lawyering has to happen. this not an open and shut case. as dirty as it looks, as bad as the governor and his wife acted in office, it's going to be tough to prove. and that is a scandal in its own right is under virginia law you can, in fact, give meese --

these lavish gifts in rolex watches. >> i think it will end up in a shakedown where they plead guilty to obstruction of justice charges because the virginia law, as sam said, the real scandal here, imagine if you're the lawyers for bob mcdonnell and going back and deciding to say, okay, let's find somebody that contributed to mark warner when he was governor, that contributed to george allen when he was governor, that contributed -- go back to the last five or six virginia governors and you're going to be able to find benefits that they handed out that were much greater to companies than, say, a launch party for a pill. >> you do get a feeling you know how this is going to end, that it will be some sort of deal. they seem to think they have her lying to investigators so your theory on obstruction of justice.

your question is does the governor plea simply to keep his wife out of jail? and that is how this ends. you do get that -- that said, if you're mcdonnell, do you risk going to a jury with all of those, you know, with the -- you're not going to be a very sympathetic figure to that jury. that is the one risk at the end of the day if you're mcdonnell even if you're pretty sure you sit there and say blagojevich got off on this so we should be able to get off on this but do you want to risk that? that is your -- you're putting yourself in the hands of a jury with some very easy closing arguments there for the prosecution. >> thomas? >> anybody on the panel understand with all of the financials laid there in this 43-page indictment, how the former governor has been able to say he is paid back star scientific with interest? where did that money come from? >> that's a good point because apparently they were really struggling financially. >> the other interesting aspect of this case is that -- first of

all, there is no ethics -- real ethics law in the state of virginia, there isn't one. trains, planes, automobiles and cash you can take apparently anything you want if you're the governor of the state. what takes precedence here? the virginia state law or the feds? i mean, if you're doing something in virginia, if you're taking stuff that mcdonnell's thought was legal what takes presence? the federal or state statute? i don't know. >> the federal law would probably supersede but i'm not close enough to the investigation. >> mike, if they want to bring this up under an old act which they have done, they certainly can do that. the question is first of all, what precedent does it set? does this mean that suddenly if you're a governor of a state that the ethics laws in your states are to be ignored? i think it's ridiculous standard and, again, i'm not exactly sure

why the attorney general didn't have more to do that day than go into -- listen, if virginia finds something they want to convict this guy, go for it. >> but, joe, in this climate -- >> go -- what is a federal government going into virginia and -- >> how can you not? >> what do you mean? >> i just say how do you not if you know this guy is doing unethical stuff, how do you not open an investigation? you know it's unethical. i guess i look at it from, you know, the voters are fed up with politicians and essentially apparently like they think every politician, by the way, does this, right? i think a lot of the public think that. a lot of politicians have a sugar daddy that does this for them look. most politicians don't do this. it is more after few bad apples. it is not a majority. i sort of -- i think the idea of trying to get a government

corruption, i think you have to try. >> even blagojevich was -- >> it sends a message to future politicians this is not going to be, you know, appropriate and the behavior people will condone. it sends a message for future donors, too. i think a public value to this prosecution but i'm not sure it's -- >> wait. chuck, the state of virginia, not like they have a republican government in virginia. democrats own the executive branch in virginia. democrats control all of virginia. if there is a republican governor that has behaved badly, why not let the democratic dominated government of virginia go after him instead of the u.s. attorneys coming in? >> i just -- i just -- why wouldn't you want the federal government to make sure that elected officials are sort of --

are acting ethically and within the law? i guess i hear you and if you're terry mcauliffe, did you run for governor to prosecute bob mcdonnell. let the justice department handle government corruption. >> i don't get it. >> do you it in a state and it politicizes it. >> i think it was flagrant and they did not help themselves swp. buzzfeed's ben smith, stay with us, if you can. chuck we will see you at 9:00 a.m. "the daily rundown." coming up, it's too late to help him win the white house but we are finally seeing a more personal side to mitt romney. it's the focus of a new netflix documentary and the film's director joins us next.

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silly presidents have a very hard time in these debates. george h.w. bush did and they feel who is this whipper snapper coming up and who knows president. i'm commander in chief and i know all of these things and doing it and they come in and so they don't prepare. they don't prepare. and they just think they can just waltz through it as they have done the job. they have done the job and they know everything and they get crushed in the first debate and they can come back. >> i don't think they got crushed as badly as he got crushed. even in that debate george bush came across more trustworthy. contrary alwa kerry always dances. >> a new scene from the netflix documentary "mitt."

greg white followed the romney family six years and through two presidential campaigns. good to have you. congratulations on the film. >> thank you. >> six years? >> six years. >> a lot of access. >> yeah. yeah. >> how did you accomplish that? don't they usually not want you around? >> well, the family, for some reason, did. the campaign did not. but because i think i got in with the family slight before he had formed an official campaign, i got in just under the wire. i was sort of grandfathered in. they allowed me to film the family but not him. >> you are focused on one man? >> focused on one man? >> yes. >> one man and his family, mitt romney. >> you capture incredible moments including the one in which they thought they had maybe won and he then they realized they had lost. what was it like to be in there? >> we begin the morning on

election day. he was uncharacteristically opt mi optimistic. even in the primaries and caucuses he was way out ahead, he would start the day on election day characteristically he was pessimistic but on election day he seemed to have a bounce in his step. to this day, i've wondered if it's part of just trying to get through that last day. they did something that was somewhat untraditional in which he made a decision to go out and campaign through a couple of battleground states on the last day which traditionally you don't. presidents and people running for president on that election day will take that day off and he didn't. i was wondering if maybe it was just getting geared up. >> here is a clip of the romney family waiting for results on election night. >> i feel like i need to lay down on the ground and throw up!

how is everyone so calm? oh, my gosh! i'm dying! it's finally hitting me. >> panic hour. >> get the panic out. >> i want to go slap him in the face right now, as hard as i can. >> go for it. mess it up, mess it up. good. that's good. >> funny. >> right now, you're up by 500 votes. >> where? >> that's not good. >> florida. >> that's not good. >> wow. >> we saw a contrast knowing the romney's between mitt, the man, the father, the husband, and, mitt, the politician. i always said -- and this is actually about as high of a compliment i can pay somebody -- mitt is a great father, he is a

great husband, he is a great man. not so great a politician at times. i'm wondering if you see the contrast behind the scenes. you know, when the cameras aren't on him and the country is not looking at him, versus a change when he is in a debate or he's in a public place where he kind of tenses up a little bit. >> i think mitt is old school. but the problem is he looks so young for his age. i think if he were more gray or more wrinkled, some of the mannerisms you would say, that is charming. and it would belie a person of his age because he looks like he's in his late 40s or mid-50s. i think maybe his mannerisms or his style as a politician might seem odd. for instance, i think mitt romney has this really great quality in that i think it's difficult for him to fake being

glad to meet someone or glat to see someone. and if he does, it comes across as fake. i think, in this day and age, we sort of reward politicians for having a sort of a cool factor and i think mitt romney is of a generation where you don't value cool in the same way that others do. >> you were with him for six years and talk about this nagging doubt and pessimism. for a great man and husband and grandfather and successful in business. where do you think the nagging doubt or pessimism. you say after the first debate he was able to draw confidence after doing a great job against obama. where did that come from? >> i think from his great qualities. the type of success he has enjoyed, i think, has been derived, in part, by an ability to identify future problems or some land mines that might be out there. as he see his family completely

euphoric after this first debate victory he is very quick to point out, hey, i'm not the first challenger to do well against a sitting president. he cites history. i don't think it overhaul pessimism that mitt romney has. i look at that and say that is astute, sthat is smart. >> here is a piece of mitt romney piecing together parts of his concession speech with his family around him. >> what do you think you say in a concession speech? i'll read to you what i have here. congratulate him on his victory and his supporters and campaign and deserves congratulations. i wish all of them with him wl, particularly the first lady and their daughters. this is a great time for the president of the united states and i think he will be successful in guiding the

nation. >> greg, for people that are watching this, they may say, how did mitt romney not see this coming? can you explain the weekend before the election when with he was in pennsylvania and 35,000, 40,000 people were showing up? the crowds were so crazy that even cold, hard republican professionals were calling me up saying i know what the numbers say but something is happening out on the trail. talk about that final weekend and the crash they felt that night. >> i think there is a way that you could sort of look back at that and say how could mitt romney not know that he was going to lose looking at the poll numbers. you see in those clips there, you see thousands and thousands of people turning out for one thing. the other thing is what is the point in just growing pessimistic at that point? you've got to gear up. you got one last stretch. why not just give it your all and just sort of say, poll numbers be damned i'll do the best i can?

there is no point in being pessimistic right there with one week to go, right? you're not going to manufacture those poll numbers or change them except if you're optimistic and you can pull out some miracle. >> sam stein? >> yeah, i saw the first hour of this last night and let me just say what a bunch of spoilers these clips are. i had no idea how it ended. i didn't know he lost on. secondly, i saw -- that was a joke. secondly in one of the footages there was a son, i forget which one, who you talked to. he says something to the extent of i can give you my media trained answer or i can give you the honest answer. you get both answers. i wonder from your perspective as you're filming this, how hard was it to wait until this was relieved to just say all of the amazing access and footage that you had? you must have been wanting to tell everybody about it. >> it wasn't that hard. it took me a good seven or eight months months to edit the hundreds and hundreds of hours

of footage that i had. to that extent, i was locked down in my garage up in north california editing this film with my good friend adam ridley. there wasn't time to release this footage before that. >> a couple of questions. one thing, those of us who covered the campaign, i think always a sense that on the inside there is secret knowledge and that they, like, that we are talking about this nonsense on tv but, like, they know things that we don't. from those clips, the conversations they are having are exactly the same conversations, the pundits are having on tv. did you see that they like really knew more and if people covering them knew things they knew the coverage would have been different or were they like responding to the same public information as everybody else? >> that is one of the things that i found so interesting. this is my first time inside a campaign like this. i just assumed once you become the republican nominee, you get access to resources and intel that is different than the general public. what was interesting to me on election night, for instance, they are getting election results the same way we all get

election results. now, of course, during the day they are getting some intel and some exit polling that perhaps journalists are not privy to. but at the end, when they are trying to figure out whether they have won or lost, they are figuring it out in real-time the same way we do. >> do they get approval on the clips or was this -- >> no. my arrangement with governor romney when i met him was that i would film, but while he was running for president, i wouldn't release anything. so, in other words, until he was done being president or done running for president, i couldn't release any of the footage but once we were done, the footage was mine to do with it as i wanted. >> wow. you can watch "mitt" only on netflix starting tomorrow. greg whiteley, thank you very much. congratulations on the film. coming up, we have a look at the films from sundance film

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up next on "morning joe," in president obama's words, she probably saved a lot of lives. we are going to speak with the georgia school clerk who convince add gunman to put down his ak-47. "morning joe" is right back. ♪

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♪ just nine months after the newtown massacre, another potential tragedy was unfolding in georgia where a man armed with an ak-47 burst into an elementary school, but that horrifying situation had a very different outcome from sandy hook and it all has to do with the school's bookkeeper. >> reporter: decatur, georgia, in august can be best described as one word. hot. it takes patience to make it through a normal day. >> standing in the hot sun and waiting and looking at the street and waiting for this buses to come around. >> reporter: august 20th, 2013 would be anything but normal and patience and much more would be needed not just to make it through the day, but to save lives. >> a man walked into mcnair

discovery learning academy armed and wanted to speak to. >> reporter: police say 20-year-old michael brandon hill shot at them as they approached. >> a white male caring and assault rifle. >> reporter: the kids in the school didn't need the s.w.a.t. team. they needed the school's bookkeeper. >> it's going to be all right. i want you to know i love you and i'm proud of you. don't worry about it. we all go through something in life. >> reporter: on a day tuff wasn't scheduled to be working she found herself face-to-face with the gunman and the next 24 minutes she found the patience and compassion to talk him down. >> i thought the same thing. i tried to commit suicide last year after my husband left me. look at me now. still working and everything is

okay. you talk to the police and let them know i'm going to walk out with him and they want to give himself up and come on in and get him and take him to the hospital. >> the suspect is in custody. >> i tell you something -- >> you did great. >> oh, jesus. >> you did great. >> antoinette tuff joins us now and the author of a new book and inspiring true story how one woman saved an atlanta school under siege. an honor to have you on the show. >> thank you. an honor to be here today. >> i remember when this was unfolding and i heard that 911, i guess, tape the call that was being broadcast after they relieved it, and i got chills. because i thought what you did was so compassionate and also incredibly human. we are all the same in some way, even in extreme circumstances and you were able to think of that in that moment. >> yes, i knew that at that moment that young man needed

someone to show him love and compassion and i thank god he prepared me foe that purpose to be able to be there for him that day. >> did you see in his face that he was connecting with you? how did you continue? >> no. he never connected with me the whole time. he paced the floor, allowing me to know that he was unstable in all of his ways and allowing me to know he had not taken his medicine, so at no time did he ever connect with me at all. >> how did you keep going? if you didn't feel a connection when you were trying to sort of hook in with him through compassion, what drove you if you felt that he wasn't connecting at all and was pacing the floor? how did you do that? >> well, i can't do nothing but call on god. i mean -- because in doing all of it, i was terrified. but i know that that moment my words meant life or death, not

only for me and that young man, but also for the 800 and some students that were in that building, parents and teachers. i know that everything that i perceived out of my mouth at that moment was going to make us all come home and be alive for our families. >> do you think it was something that you said ultimately? did you see his mind working to decide to put the gun down? >> no. because during it, i remember he went outside. he had shot at police. he had sat in front of me and, you know, loaded up the gun with ammunition and pacing back and forth, going out trying to get to the door and, you know, me trying to call him back in. so, no, not at all. not during that time. >> how he is -- where what is his state now? he is obviously incarcerated. do you know what has happened to him? >> no i don't, i don't. >> how did the kids treat you at the school? any different than before? >> the children are just genuine. they love you no matter what. that is the most genuine love

you will ever get. >> what do they call you? >> they call me miss tuff. >> miss tuff? >> yes. >> that makes sense, doesn't it, thomas? >> tough as nails. we heard had in your voice there the compassion and the reason you were using what this young man a, as the president said, you saved a lot of lives but for people that are looking at this and that are faith-driven would say a miracle happened that day. i know you start the day reading psalms 23? >> yes, the lord is my shepherd and i shall not want. >> how do you think that your faith helped you guide you through that moment? >> i know during that time, i had been getting up and getting up in the morning and giving god honor and praise and actually just spending time with him. i know that he prepared me for a purpose but it just didn't start there. my preparing for a purpose started a long time ago in my life and so i know that everything that went on in my life prepared me for that moment and i thank him for the trials

and the tribulations to get to that moment to save that young man and everyone else that was in that school. >> antoinette, courage is actually the ability to suppress you managed to suppress your fear for quite a period of time, 25 minutes. talking to this guy. while you were doing this, were there moments when you felt that, "oh, my god, the fear is going to overcome me"? the sight of the gun. the thought that maybe he's being unresponsive to what you were saying. was there any moment that you became afraid that your fear was going to conquer you? >> well, beyond which i was terrified the whole time. >> yes. >> i thought i was screaming on the inside. and everybody kept saying, oh, you were so calm. you were so calm. so i had to go back and listen to the 911 tape to see who they was talking about, and i didn't know how calm i was until i actually listened to that tape and had to say to myself, okay, god, this was you, because that

was not me. >> you had authority -- you were ms. tuff. >> oh, yeah. >> you had authority in your voice. and a motherliness and a connection, because you talked about some really deep, horrid, difficult things in your own life. i mean, you drew deep. >> yes, i did. i wanted him to realize that the pain is real, and i think sometimes what we do is we escape it, and we don't realize that, you know, when people are going through things, we want to always, you know, degrade them and say things that are not always pleasant. >> mm-hmm. >> and wanted him to know in spite of what he was going through -- because i knew that pain, i had just felt it myself when my ex-husband had left me -- and when you think that you're going to be with someone for the rest of your life, and what the rest of your life is is now no longer the rest of your life, i knew what that pain felt like. and i needed someone to love me during that pain, and god sent me angels. and i just wanted to be an angel for him that day.

>> okay. the book is called "prepared for a purpose." you can find out more. antoinettetuff.com. antoinet antoinette, thank you so much. today we're going to play a little game. which 4g lte map has the most coverage? this isn't real difficult... pretty obvious to me. i'm going to have to say verizon. verizon. that's right! the choice is obvious. verizon's superfast 4g lte network is over three times larger than any other 4g lte network. now get one, two, or even three-hundred dollars off a new smartphone depending on the smartphone you trade in on america's largest, most reliable 4g lte network. that's powerful. verizon. now get a free lg g2, with a 13-megapixel camera.

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would you have liked to stayed? >> it's not my decision, and i think i probably would have stayed if we didn't have an extremely qualified young guy

ready to jump in. sure, i probably would have stayed a little longer. but we have somebody very good, very talented. i think he's -- you know, he's probably more like a young johnny than almost anybody since. and he's really good. so you go with the new guy. makes perfect sense to me. if they said, look, you're fired, we don't know who we're going to get, we don't know who we'll put in there, but anybody but you, we just want you out -- i would be hurt and offended. but this makes perfect sense to me, i understand this. >> well, all right, that will be on "60 minutes" this sunday, the full interview with jay leno. what do you think? >> i want to know how he feels. he's not ready to leave the stage. >> no, he's not. but he's had practice. but maybe it's easier the second time around, and especially if he likes jimmy fallon. >> i assume he does. aga genuinely. >> final show is february 6, and

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good morning, it's 8:00 a.m. on the east coast, 5:00 a.m. on the west coast, as you take a live look at new york city. back with us on set, we have harold ford jr. >> good morning. >> mike barnicle, thomas roberts, and in washington, sam stein. joe, good morning. >> good morning. how you doing? >> i'm -- uh, i'm not good, but that's okay. >> why not? >> we'll see how we get through this. >> what's wrong? what's wrong? >> i have this allergic reaction going, can i hope up my eyes and i'm on a lot of antihistamines. >> this is like web m.d. there is a new gauge to political damage inflicted on governor christie. a new rutgers/eagleton poll shows 46% of registered voters in new jersey have a favorable opinion of the governor, down from 65% in november. just before his sweeping re-election win. 53% of voters now approve of how he is handling the job. that's a 15-point drop in the past two months. one takeaway from the poll,

christie's ratings are noticeably lower than those who travel across the george washington bridge at least once a week. joe, what do you make of these number sngs -- numbers? >> it's hard to say really. harold ford, you know, if you get -- if you get a drop in approval ratings and you're in chris christie's position, it doesn't really matter right now. that said, though, you know, 20-point drop when you're trying to flex your muscles nationally is not the best case scenario. i know that what goes up must come down. i just haven't seen a lot of politicians that have gone down 20 points and gone back up those 20 points. maybe irrelevant in the end to voters in iowa in 2016 and new hampshire in 2016, south carolina in 2016. but right now, it certainly is something he's got to be seriously concerned about, doesn't he? >> he would have to be. i'd say two things. one, he may not get to 2016 in terms of a presidential candidate. he has to focus, i think, more intently on how he gets out of

the mess that he's in now. i think there are probably two things based on what you see now. one, the u.s. attorney could come out and say, there's nothing here. we haven't found enough evidence to go forward. or they find something to go forward with. either way, you would have to imagine, joe, it would complicate his rga abilities and would complicate a national campaign ability. the best scenario for him would be for both the committees and the state legislature, as well as for the u.s. attorney to say, not only is there no evidence, there's no need for us to look into this. we did, and we're giving him a clean bill of health. >> yeah. >> he's a former u.s. attorney himself. he would have to understand, as well as any, the consequences and the implications and the consequences here, either way. >> right. hey, sam stein, you know, i have said from the beginning of this that chris is a friend of mine, and i take chris at his word, and i still take chris at his word. a lot of people don't. so let's say, even if i'm right and the majority of people are

wrong, chris is still left with a situation where he has had to get rid of a lot of appointees, a lot of people really close to him. even the best-case scenario, it seems like he has terrible judgment in hiring people around him. >> yeah. i think you're right. the problem that he faces, that he won't be absolved if he's ever absolved, until a few months down the road or maybe even a year. these investigations take time. people are going to want to find out every little bit of evidence that relates to either the hoboken mayor and whether there was sandy relief funds withheld there, the use of his own image in the sandy ads, et cetera. so he's got to wait this out. there's not much relief down the road. like you said, people are going to ask, were you involved in this, or did have the right judgment appointing people to the port authority and anyone else in your cabinet? when rudy giuliani went on "meet the press" to defend him, in the

process, the president isn't responsible for the irs scandal. it's people who he appointed, the culture he created. same thing with chris christie. in the process of trying to defend chris christie, he's absolving barack obama. >> we'll follow this story, and go back at it in just a bit. but moving on now, take a look at this. a surprising admission from one of the rights most outspoken personalities. this is glenn beck, a former fox news host, reacting to a question from megan kelly. >> when you think back on your time here, how do you remember it? how do you remember it now? >> i remember it as an awful lot of fun and that i made an awful lot of mistakes, and i wish i could go back and be more uniting in my language, because i think i played a role,

unfortunately, in helping tear the country apart. and it's not who we are. i didn't realize how really fragile the people were. i thought we were kind of a little more in it together. and now, i look back and i realize if we could have talked about the uniting principles a little bit more instead of just the problems, i think -- i think i would look back on it a little more fondly. >> joe. surprising. >> yeah. yeah, you know be he came out this past week and also said if you are anti-gay -- if you don't like a person because they're gay -- you have no place in this country, and don't call yourself a fan of mine. i think what's so fascinating about this, is that if glenn beck were saying this from a

position of weakness, that would be one thing. glenn beck, even from what i saw, made, like, $90 million last year. he has done on the internet what the largest corporations in america have tried to do on the internet. i mean, he has -- he has somehow brought together tv and internet, and he's had an extraordinary year financially. so i think that's what's even more telling about this, is he's making these admissions from a position of strength. i mean, what do you think about it, mika, and let's toss it around the table. i think it's fascinating. by the way, i take him at his word. i've been a harshly critical of glenn beck. i don't think anybody's been more harshly critical of glenn beck over the past several years than me. i take him at his word. but, mika, if, for some reason, he's being cynical in these things he's saying, well, that's even better. because that means that he recognizes that there's a market

for this sort of inclusive talk and politically. so, you know, i -- i commend him, actually, not that he needs my commending at all. what do you think, mika? >> well, first of all, i don't think there's as much a market for a tone like that, as there is for frothy at the mouth. i've seen that in ratings on both sides of the aisle. so i'd like to believe that this is something that he's truly thought about and has evolved in a certain way and has looked back -- i mean, we all look back. i'm sure, joe, you have stories of when you first went to congress -- >> oh, god. >> -- versus now. >> yeah. >> well you realize tone -- >> plus tv. >> sure. >> we've all made horrible mistakes on the air. >> yeah. >> we've all made horrible mistakes. not all people do what he just did. >> exactly. i can take a show that we did in the past week, and i remember watching pieces of it later in the day, and just saying the

tone was all wrong, looking only at myself and trying to -- but this is big. this is looking back at a time in his career when i think there were a lot of different bullhorns out there on both sides that might have led to some of the strife that we're seeing, or even some of the bad things that have happened. and he's -- that's a huge thing, i think -- >> if that's the case -- >> -- to say that publicly. >> -- i don't want to be totally cynical, but was glenn beck contrieved two, three years ago when he was spouting what he was spouting, or was he contrived in the interview with kelly. if we're truly such sheep that we'll follow a glenn beck off the cliff, then it's time for a really internal autopsy in this country, really, seriously. >> i think people do listen to him. >> i'm not saying they don't. i'm not saying they don't. that's the problem. if we have huge numbers of people in this country who think

what a glenn beck says -- whether he's talking three years ago or whether he's talking fairly sensible stuff with meighan kelly, if we have huge numbers of people in this country who say, yes, glenn beck told me this, glenn beck told me that, let's go do it, i mean, come on. >> that's what's happening, right? his show -- his show -- i mean, we used to watch it, and i was in the post office a couple of years ago when he was on fox, and it was crazy. it was crazy. i'm curious why he has this epiphany now. i'm trying not to be too cynical. i thought the scarborough show on msnbc a couple years ago was a national treasure. you don't need to apologize for anything, joe. >> thank you so much. sam, i appreciate that. for sam to say that, when he was in third grade and he still -- >> it was 6:00, whenever it was -- >> i think that's very impressive. no, you know, the thing is, mika, we all know, and we've all

seen it. i mean, people watch shows on the left, and they watch shows on the right, and there's a lot of nonsense, ideological nonsense spewed out there. and to mike's point, yes. >> even hatred. >> people on the left and people on the right follow -- >> absolutely. >> -- that peddle extreme messages like sheep, and they follow them over the cliff, and it reinforcing their pre-existing stereotypes that "i'm right and everything else is wrong" and it's this warm, ideological blanket that people wrap up in. and the last thing i'll say about this, and we've got a lot more news to talk about, i'll only say this, mika, that actually there are people right now who are doubling down on the extreme talk. on the right and on the left. and i just, know, again, this guy's a very, very powerful force out there, and i'm glad -- i'm glad that he's saying what he's saying. >> yeah, made me stop and go,

"whoa, what happened?" >> yeah, yeah. >> prosecutors have laid out a comprehensive case against former governor bob mcdonnell and his wife maureen. but legal experts say the 43-page indictment may still not contain enough to send mcdonnell to jail. the prosecution needs to prove whether governor mcdonnell of virginia and his wife explicitly promised to help the company, star scientific, whose ceo gifted the couple with thousands of dollars in perks. the "washington post" points out that even in the case to governor rod blagojevich, the jury was deadlocked on most charges despite blagojevich caught on tape trying to sell barack obama's senate seat. we were talking about this yesterday, the story broke the day before. they seemed to have a lot on the former virginia governor, joe -- >> right. >> -- and it certainly looks bad -- >> mika -- >> -- all the gifts and the shopping trips, the watch -- [ whistle ] -- having said that, is there

still a question whether or not the law was broken? >> there's no doubt -- there's no doubt there's a huge question there. the "washington post" story is a must-read this morning, because they paint what i was saying the other day, and what i've been saying for sometime, that the feds reaching out to go after this guy, given the virginia law and given the lack of payoff for star scientific -- at least as far as legislation goes or appointments go, or all the things that usually follow these types of stories -- is paper thin. there's very little there. sam stein, though, that said, you read the 43-count indictment, which i did last night -- >> yeah. >> -- it is shocking. and i must say the behavior, especially, of his wife -- the sense of entitlement. >> oh, yeah. >> the demands, the requests are absolutely shocking and offensive and embarrassing. but that said, you look at the

law and read the "washington post" article this morning, and they're just -- i think the feds are going to have a very difficult time doing anything other than bankrupting bob mcdonnell and his family for the rhett of their life. >> yeah, i think when this is all settled, the real scandal that we're going to be discussing is that this probably fell within the rule of law and that -- >> exactly. >> -- virginia law allows this type of stuff. that said, the feds don't have to prove that a gift -- or an exchange for the gifts was granted, but that it was promised. so that's very tough to do. you have to show intent, and maybe this guy who ran star sign di -- scientific has e-mails or letters that show intent, but my guess, reading the "post" article today, the lawyers will have a tough time -- the prosecutor also have a tough time finishing up this case. what's probably going to end up happening is they're going to nail them on some sort of obstruction of justice charge, because they misled investigators, but that is a much lesser charge than what

they were expecting. but again, the real scandal here is that under virginia law, these types of gifts, this type of access for gifts, which he did get, is probably permissible. >> all right. to syria now, peace talks in switzerland got off to a rough start yesterday. secretary of state john kerry opened the conference by laying down an ultimatum for a long-term solution in the war-torn country. >> bashir al assad will not be part of that transition government. there is no way -- no way possible, in the imagination -- that the man has led the brutal response to his own people could regain the legitimacy to govern. >> syria's foreign minister rejected secretary kerry's statements saying, "no one, mr. kerry, has the right to provide legitimacy, except for the syrian people." meanwhile, senator john mccain, one of the most outspoken critics of president obama's policy in syria, accused the administration of overlooking war crimes. quote, i have never seen

anything like this in my life. i thought jimmy carter was bad, but he pales in comparison to this president in my view. joining us now, nbc news foreign correspondent ayman mow my helden, where does this go from here? >> there will be international mediators. there are not going to be any direct talks. really, the short answer to your question, nobody really knows. there's such a wide gap, and fundamentally they're not talking about the same thing. nobody's certain they'll produce the outcome desired by all. >> ayman, talk about the timing and as we look at these images that have been -- that have been coming out and that more people are getting familiar with, how does that reframe the narrative?

>> well, it certainly puts back in focus what this fundamental conflict is about, which is systematic human rights abuses, and at the end of the day, these images are showing to what extent the regime will go to try and preserve its place in power. now, it's been known for a lot of the journalists that have been cover syria and speaking to opposition activists human rights abuses are taking place on both sides. but when you see these types of images coming out -- and, again, we have to couch it with the fact that these are images that have been leaked by a defector, government defector, who was ultimately, you know, allowed to bring this forward with the help of the government and their lawyers in london. and the reason that's so important is qatar has been a key supporter -- the country, government have been a key supporter of the opposition. it raises some questions about the authenticity of the pictu s pictures, which even the u.s. state department says it cannot independently verify. but nonetheless, we know these systematic abuses are taking place, perhaps not at this scale, but the timing once again

refocuses the discussion as to what this is about, and that is the human rights abuses. >> amman, while we have you, can you bring us up to date on the ukraine? the political unrest there has been absolutely stunning. give us a sense of what the implications are for the region. >> well, it's very important. ukraine is one of most important countries in europe, but more importantly for russia now. you have to go back to november to get a quick sense of what this was all about, and that was ukraine was on, you know, on pace to sign an agreement with the european union to join the e.u., or open trade deals. the president of ukraine said he doesn't want to do that anymore. he opted instead to have closer ties with russia. that has angered a lot of the country's opposition movement, and that led to a sit-in protest that's been in place now for close to seven, eight weeks. yesterday, the day before, we saw the government really step up its campaign to try and break these protests up. you're seeing some of the horrific images on the screen. it felt like a battlefield, more like a war zone. three protesters have been killed. and the opposition says the number is even higher. they're really angry with the

ukrainian president opting to be closer to russia than to the european union. you know, we've been talking about the olympics and security in sochi. this is now one more security crisis and political crisis that the russian government has to deal with on its western border. coming up on "morning joe," politico has a fresh look at what it calls one of the hottest races of 2014, the battle to replace mitch mcconnell, who's facing challenges on both the right and the left. that's next in the "morning playbook." first, bill karens with a check on the forecast. bill? >> mika, one of the coldest mornings i can remember coast-to-coast. i'd say about 90% of the country has a wind chill at 32 degrees or below, and many spots are much worse. look at minneapolis and chicago this morning. that's some of the coldest air that we've seen this winter, and it's all heading for south texas. of all places, houston is under a winter storm warning for tonight with freezing rain and sleet. tomorrow morning is going to be rough from san antonio, houston, even into louisiana. when will we get rid of the

arctic blast? you do not want to be in this. that's the cold air, and over the next seven days, it kind of reinforces itself, and then comes right back at us the beginning of next week, so in the until you get until about the super bowl we warm it up across this country. there what a winter it is. there's a ferry on the hudson. the ice starting to close in. in the 1800s, you could walk to jersey walking across the hudson.

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♪

all right. time now to take a look at the morning paymers. the "wall street journal," a new study predicts facebook decline may happen sooner than we think. research out of princeton university estimates the social media giant will lose 80% of its users by 2017. the prediction suggests facebook peaked in 2012, and compares the trajectory to the demise of myspace. wow. facebook has more than 1 billion users logging on at least once a month. hmm. >> hey, you know, mika, let's talk about that for one second. >> okay. >> you have a 17-year-old girl and a 15-year-old girl. >> correct. >> i've got two boys in their 20s and a 10-year-old girl that is -- i mean, all of them are online. >> yeah. >> i don't know about your kids. mine never go on facebook.

they're on instagram. they're on, you know, they're on a variety of other things. vine. but they just -- facebook is not a part of their lives. >> mine are on facebook, but they also have brought in other -- and they use them all to talk, which is so strange. they don't talk on the phone. they chat. they snapchat. >> yeah. >> they take pictures, and they facebook. >> voxer. >> i mean, instagram. never talk. >> used to be you could facetalk, but now you can use vox, of course, as mike barnicle loves to, snapchat. >> all the time. all the time. >> there are a lot of different ways that they communicate. and i've got to say, facebook does feel kind of 2010, you know? >> -- joe -- >> you know, what do you do, mike? keep it clean. >> i sometimes communicate using the telephone. >> oh. >> really? ? what's that like?

>> yeah, sometimes, rather than facebook, and i call someone, they answer the phone, and we have a chat. >> you still have a house, right? >> yes. i have a house phone line. i bought the old-fashioned phone. joe, the -- when i called you, it was -- yesterday, it was on a black phone with buttons, just like they do in the old days, plugged into the wall. hi to pay to have my house -- so you could plug the phone into the wall with no cord. i've got one. >> i like a house phone. >> you have to be very careful to bet against a young mark zuckerberg, i hear what they're saying, but this guy jung, he's hungry, smart. >> but they'll buy everything else. so there you go. >> however you want to -- >> yeah, whatever you want to call it. be very careful to bet against this guy. >> remember, everybody talked bad about him, and now the stock is hovering $60 a share. >> all right. joe, take us to the parade of papers. >> nobody is talking bad about him, harold. i don't know if you guys are investing in the pipeline -- >> no, it has nothing to do with that.

don't bet against a young guy who's smart, creative, entrepreneurial, and i'm just saying be mindful of -- >> i guess they're having dinner tonight or something. >> they must be. from the parade of papers, netflix is topping predictions that 2.3 million u.s. subscribers. that's up from $8 million last year. netflix is the world's largest streaming service with 44 million users worldwide, and there's a good example of not trying to predict somebody's demise too quickly. >> yeah. >> that was a company left for dead before, of course, they broke into the original series a couple of years ago. >> from nbc news.com, two brands of pet jerky streets were returned to the shelves despite fda warnings which prompted a nationwide recall last year. the treats were linked to the death and illness of thousands of pets. despite protests from veterinarians and pet owners,

wagon train and milo's kitchen jerky -- >> oh, i love that. >> -- do not need premarket approval. >> they're great. >> and will return to stores over the next few weeks. >> you may want to give those to your new little dog. >> "chicago tribune," bill cosby is returning to nbc. he's teaming up with former cosby show producers to develop a half-hour family sitcom. the show will be centered around cosby who will play the head of a multigenerational family. similar to his role as cliff huxtable, cosby's character will offer advice on marriage and parenting. >> that's tom warner. >> all right. >> tom! >> "the los angeles times." >> all right. >> is it really? >> yes, tom warner will produce the new "cosby" show. >> what's going on here? >> this from "the l.a. times," a tiny bronze rabbit is making a lot of noise in south africa. the bunny was discovered in the ear of a 30-foot statue of nelson mandela that was unveiled last month. the artist secretly added the

rabbit as a trademark of their work and a symbol of working under a tight deadline. south african officials want the rabbit removed right now. just like we want mika -- >> i have a "hare" if my ear. >> look how cute. he can't get the frisbee. >> which dog? >> the new one. and it's talking to bush. the frisbee talking to bush, he can't get it out. >> maybe he's trying to escape. >> no, he wants the frisbee really bad. get rid of that dog? look how cute he is. huh? joe? >> you should investigate whether or not -- >> i'm fought allergic to him. >> okay. whatever. >> joining us now with the political playbook, president and ceo of politico and capital new york jim vand vandehei,

should mcconnell be worried? >> i don't think he lose the primary, but it's crucial as to why he's been m.i.a., because he's worried about the tea party challenge. holman has a great piece on this guy, and the challenge of going against mitch mcconnell, who not only has a lot of money, but a ruthless campaigner. when he goes to church, people say he will be shunned at church, friends saying, listen, i want to help you, but i'll never have a job in kentucky politics again. that's what happens in politics when you're taking on the big dog. he's probably too far down to catch up, but he is getting the backing of a lot of the tea party groups, an he's giving a lot of headaches to mitch mcconnell, and making it a lot harder for mitch mcconnell to, one, do his job back in washington, but, two, get ready for a general election campaign, which is going to be a walk in the park, either. >> jim, this also just points to the fact that the war within the republican party continues. i mean, you're going after the

republican -- the top republican in the senate. there are a lot of other senior republicans that are going after him. it's not like utah. my attitude on this stuff, if you want an intramural fight, go at it. that's your business. but kentucky? kentucky's a state the democrat disactually win. this is where we've gotten in trouble in delaware. this is where we've gotten in trouble in missouri, got in trouble in all of the swing states. and now, this could cause problems for republicans actually winning the seat in the general election in kentucky. >> there's no doubt. i mean, it's probably the biggest reason that republicans aren't in control of the senate today, there's lots of senate seat over the last two election cycles definitely winnable on paper that they didn't win because of the divisions. >> sam stein, going to my bigger issue there with this challenge in kentucky, you go back and look, and again, my attitude is, you no he, if mike lee wins or

runs in utah, okay, well, i'm the republican, we're going to win that one no matter what, right? but again, you look what mcdonnell did in delaware. you look what happened in nevada. you look what happened in missouri with aiken. you look what happened in indiana with murdoch, and you would think the conservative groups, is most republicans, you would think they would choose the battles more wisely. kentucky still is a swing state. >> yeah, and i think if you look to -- from 30,000 feet, you would wonder is so un-conservative about mitch mcconnell. i mean, this is a guy who has led the senate minority leadership, one of the more senate conservatives in recent memory, at least, and you have to wonder what are the outside groups doing? the only answer this is their reason for existence. they are there to challenge republicans to be more conservative. and if they were ever to sign off and say, okay, our

candidates are conservative enough, then they wouldn't have a point of being. and so, they will always be there. they will be challenging the republicans to be more conservative, usually through primary challenges. the question is, what will groups like karl rove's group, like in newly established group from steve la tourette, what will they do to back up the more modern mainstream candidates, the more established candidates, and will they have any teeth. and i don't know. >> one of the amazing -- >> by the way, mika, i'm all for republicans being more conservative, especially on fiscal issues. but i'm also for republicans -- and i think most republicans would be for this -- for republicans controlling the senate instead of letting harry reid continue to run the united states senate. i think like tom coburn, i think harry reid has run the senate in the ground, and i think harry reid is a bad thing for the long-term health. that's my belief. i know a lot of people will disagree with that. if you believe that, then why do you keep gambling on losing

seats? again, find people in conservative states, republicans are going to win, any way in the general election, and work on the margins there instead of continuing -- again, i think at the end of the day, i think the money dries up for these groups, because i think most conservatives who are like me are so interested in getting harry reid out as majority leader of the senate, that we're not -- we're going to stop shooting ourselves in the foot and actually start focusing on winning elections. what a radical concept. winning elections and controlling the senate. >> up next, "time" magazine wants us all to take a deep breath. can you do that, mike? >> i can. >> thomas? >> of course. >> definitely. what this week's cover story says about finding a focus in the stressed-out world. we'll be right back with much more "morning joe." ♪

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♪ time to take a look at the latest issue of "time" magazine, the cover story is the mindful revolution, science, finding focus in a stressed-out multitasking culture. and i'm seeing the word mindfulness everywhere lately. topic of the conferences i'm doing with ariana, a mindfulness

magazine, you can find at whole foods. deputy managing editor radhika jones joins us to talk about the cover story, because this is becoming the new thing that people are focused on to sort of deal with the problems of our time. >> it's exactly that. it's a growing popular obsession, but there's also a lot of science behind it. >> what is it? mindfulness? >> very simply put, it's the ability to focus your attention on the things that you are doing when you are doing it. it sounds so basic. you know, my guess is, 150 years ago, people were not so concerned about mindfulness. but we have kind of done this to ourselves. you know, we've created some amazing technology that has enabled us to sort of be on -- >> do five things at once. >> -- do five things at once, and multitasking doesn't make you more productive. it may make you feel more productive, but it doesn't. mindfulness, the interesting part, it's promised on medication, but you can do things mindful. you can eat mindfulfully.

you can exercise mindfully. you can focus your mind to everything -- >> help me understand why you're not talking about a whole lot of nothing right now? >> well, there's evidence that shows there's a lot of studies being done right now, but evidence that shows that mindfulness does, in fact, have really positive health effects, like it can lower your blood pressure, it can lower stress, affects people in the pentagon that are interested in mindfulness as training for marines, you know, put them in stressful situations. it's been proven that meditation can actually help your mind. your mind is like a muscle, and it need as workout. we're used to working it out in certain ways. we're less used to working it out -- >> as a working mother, i know something about doing five, six, seven things at once, and that not being good in terms of the kids and being in the moment. boys, are you buying it? >> well, yeah, because we have -- just look around. on an everyday basis, we have become a nation and a people who somehow large numbers of it

confuse motion with achievement. i'm rushing here, rushing there. and what did you get done? i got there. what did you get done? nothing. >> or it's, like, well, i'm at my kid's soccer game, i'm here, but working e-mail -- >> yeah, stimulated all the time. i'm envious of the woman on the cover. to meditate. >> all right, are you ready? med trait. -- meditate. take a deep breath. >> you could have been a nun. >> and close your eyes. >> you wish. i could have been a nun? >> yeah, telling me to sit up straight. >> hide your knuckles. >> take a deep breath, mike barnicle. he can't do it. here's what you're supposed to do, harrell. notice your breath. don't change your breathing. focus on the sensation of air moving in and out of your lungs, thomas. as thoughts come into your mind and distract you from your breathing, acknowledge those thoughts and then return to

focus on your breathing each time. are you with me? you're not getting it at all? >> one eye shot and one eye on twitter. >> the new cover of "time" magazine is the mindful revolution, radhika jones, thank you so much. coming up, the real awards show at sundance. lewis hits the red carpet straight ahead. "morning joe" back in a moment. [ male announcer ] staples has everything you need to launch your big idea.

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♪ last week, hbo commented that shared passwords are not a big issue for hbo go, because those users will actually have enough money to subscribe on their own. what's your view around shared passwords? >> it was an interesting comment, i suppose. so i guess the ceo of hbo doesn't mind me sharing his

account information, so it's fluffer @hbo.com, and his password is -- [ laughter ] >> all right. that was, of course, reid hastings, the ceo of netflix. let's bring in brian sullivan, business before the bell. you know, i would -- i wouldn't underestimate netflix when you look at -- well, the documentary, this mitt documentary will be extraordinary, i guarantee you a lot of people will be on there. you know, "house of cards" "orange is the new black." netflix is looking pretty darn good. i wouldn't thumb my nose at their subscribers, right? >> no, joe. in kt fact, somebody pointed oun twitter, if you invested $90,000 in netflix just the beginning of last year, you'd have almost $300,000 today. the subscriber growth has been on a tear. obviously, the ceo, reid hastings is fielding his oats. usually, they're buttoned up on the conference calls.

i've listened to hundreds, and it's usually the corporate babble and gobly gook, and here you have hastings calling out the ceo saying he's netflix's -- you know, you have the bleep, i think your audience pretty much understood where that is. netflix is on a high. you mentioned the shows, award winning, the mitt documentary, i heard your interview with the producer and director of that earlier today. that should be another win. it sounds very compelling. so netflix, guys, just continues to roll. the ceo's definitely going to face fallout from that comment. maybe get a call from hbo today. >> not like a trash talking in a google hangout. cnbc's brian sullivan. good to have you with us, buddy. next, lewis looks at the featured films of the big sundance festival, and a bone to pick with one of the stars of our favorite shows. >> larry david is an idiot for divorcing you. >> thank you. we're saying it out loud. >> stupid. larry, what are you doing? >> what's wrong with you, larry? >> seriously. >> we're so mad at you, larry.

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yeah, so there's a picture of nbc lou, louis snowboarding, and we sent him out to sundance, because we thought that he would actually get an nice package, because "morning joe" is for, of course, politics and pop culture meeting, but instead, louis, you took the dough and blew it all on skiing, didn't you? >> it was a bona fide ski

vacation, and paid for all by you, which make it is even that much better. >> like you couldn't even -- like, you couldn't even be, like, in the office on time for important meetings on monday and tuesday. >> no, i missed all those. yeah, who wants to go to meetings? let's go to the package. this past weekend, i headed out to park city, utah, for the 2014 sundance film festival. while there are many hollywood stars promoting the indy films, the highlight was a smaller festival within sundance known simply as cat dance. i'm here in beautiful park city, utah, for the 2014 sundance film festival where some of the world's greatest filmmakers come to celebrate their craft. let's go check it out. >> no place that champions independent film more than this place. and somebody that was here ten years ago, and the whole place changed my life. it's special. >> reporter: sundance film festival has a long history of elevatie ining indy films into

national spotlight. this year, some of hollywood's biggest stars showcased their recent projects. >> been known to give chances to a lot of small movies. >> this is great, because everyone sees you walking around instead of driving around. >> reporter: that's true. >> it's fun to bump into people. >> reporter: hey, do you mind if i -- >> sorry. >> i like the informality. >> sometimes it's about more than just the festival. they help people all year long. >> a lot of the movies would never have an outlet if not for this incredible enter price. >> sundance! [ cheers ] ♪ >> reporter: when you're in park city, you have to come to the no name saloon and grab a brew. >> there's a lot of partying happening around town, so you have to take care of your body,

too. >> reporter: there is a small festival within sundance called cat dance. >> really? >> reporter: yes. is there a lot of heavy petting? >> i'm very found of cats, so maybe i'll look it up. >> reporter: all time the favorite movie with a feline in it? >> no, that's too difficult. >> i love an american tale, and they had that great cat played by dom. >> cat woman, awful. >> no cats in america. >> the cat dance that i know, it's actually they use another word, and i have seen them. and ien joy them a lot. >> that can't be true. >> reporter: it's the truth. >> who's at the -- >> reporter: we're going to go after this. >> all right, that makes sense. >> reporter: it's the real reason i came here. for the cat dance, and to hang out with you. >> she sniffed me and i looked at her, and she looked back.

>> reporter: i am feline fine, because i am at cat dance 2014. >> cat dance. ♪ >> we are obsessed by cats. they're the guardian of the temple, and you really feel when you touch them, you really feel that they absorb your energy. >> cat dance is supporting young emerging film dancers. >> freshstep raised to debt $2.5 million and gave it to aspca. it's enormous. >> and the winner gets, i know, $50,000. >> reporter: you guys have a golden kitty litter scoop. >> yeah, not bad. >> it's big with my cats. >> we've been sort of obsessed with our cats and ryan wrote this joke song and it turned into this huge thing. >> reporter: i'm going to enter this next year. >> do you have a cat? >> reporter: i don't have a cat.

>> we could all get a cat. >> reporter: we should get one together, i think. >> i like that idea. >> reporter: so, joe, i did this for you, because i know that you have a new cat, the colonel. >> yeah, exactly. we'll enter the colonel. louis berg -- intrepid reporter. today we're going to play a little game.

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thomas, i learned today that you don't give louis bergdorf your credit card and a ticket to a ski resort. >> i think he need as chaperone, and i have learned today i am willing to go with him. >> i learned that robert redford puts on an incredible festival. i think i'm moving to park city. >> i learned the nbc accounting department, the people in charge of expense accounts, have an enormous sense of humor. getting away with this. i mean, free lift tickets. but anyway, that's it for "morning joe." but right now, time for chuck todd and the "the daily rundown." chuck, take it away. well, with a cloud hanging over one governor and another former future star facing an indictment, the republican party chairman hosts state leaders to talk about 2014, 2016, and beyond. the rules of the road for the presidential, the wtt